Traveling show sparked gem collection at new Perot Museum

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David Woo/Staff Photographer

Perot Museum founding donor Lyda Hill, seen with her own gem and mineral collection, took up the hobby after seeing an display on loan from Houston at the old museum in Fair Park. She donated $15 million to make sure the Perot had its own treasure trove.

The Perot Museum can thank the Houston Museum of Natural Science for the Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall.

After Hill persuaded her family and its oil company to donate $10 million to the new museum, she was invited to a dinner at the old museum in Fair Park.

During cocktail hour, she made her way upstairs to see a traveling exhibit of gems and minerals on loan from the Houston museum. She was smitten.

“Here are minerals spotlighted. The whole room is black. And oh my goodness, it was gorgeous!” she recalls. “I’d kept myself from collecting anything all my life, but by the time we sat down for dinner, I’d decided that I was going to collect minerals.”

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